U2's 'Spider-Man' due to dazzle in December

It's finally happening. After a saga worthy of afternoon soap opera, the Broadway musical 'Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark' will debut on Broadway this November 14 and open on December 21.

The show marks the first time that U2 frontman Bono and guitarist The Edge have written a score for the stage. But don't imagine that show tunes aren't in their blood.

'A school production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat was where I first found my voice,' Bono told the press this week. In fact his father, Bono says, was a fine tenor and sang in many musicals. Bono even recalls him dressed as a cowboy in Oklahoma!

Guitarist The Edge singles out West Side Story and The Music Man as influential and personally inspiring, a benchmark that the two Irish rockers used when it came to writing their own saga.

Bono adds that what's special about Spider-Man is the very ordinariness of Peter Parker. 'It sounds odd to say, but Spider-Man is as important to the 21st century as the story of Ulysses was to the ancient Greeks,' says Bono. 'These are morality plays, where luminous characters duke it out in ways very revealing of the nature of who we are.'

It being Spider-Man, expect to see some spectacular aerial battles, web spinning and wall climbing. 'We've got a great dance company, and there will be acrobatic circus feats and unbelievable action sequences,' says the show's director Julie Taymor says. 'We'll have performers flying over people in the audience, landing in the aisles and the balconies.'

The show's budget, estimated to be around $50 million, was the reason the show's original producers eventually ran short on money, prompting the long delays that have dogged the production.

But Bono is already anticipating success. 'It's down to words and melodies,' he says. 'Are they memorable? Is it a fun ride, as well as a profound experience? I believe we are in with a chance.'